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ECS A785GM-M Motherboard Review

The BIOS is one of the most important components of a computer. This firmware controls how the system handles the hardware. BIOS, which stands for Basic Input/Output System, is used to identify and initialize the hardware of a computer and set defaults for them like memory speed, CPU speed, and more. The BIOS on the ECS A785GM-M "Black Series" motherboard is a very basic one. It offers you the basics to get you going, but no hardcore overclocking will be done with this board.

Standard CMOS Setup:

Once you enter the BIOS by pressing the "Del" key at start up, you will be presented with the main screen. I will explain each one as we go on, but here is an overview for you so you get an idea of the layout. First up is the Standard CMOS Setup, which allows you to adjust the Date/Time and access drive information.

Advanced Setup:

The Advanced Setup section lets you alter features such as the AMD Cool & Quiet and C1E power saving functions, boot up functions, hard disk priority, and the eJiffy utility. After installing the eJiffy program to the hard drive, you can enable the feature here and also allow you to reset the quick "OS" to its default settings in case there is a problem with it.

Advanced Chipset Setup:

In the Advanced Chipset Setup section, you can choose what display to boot first, be it PCI or PCI Express. You also can enable or disable the Memory Hole Remapping and set the memory to ganged or unganged mode.

Integrated Peripherals:

Moving on down, there is the Integrated Peripherals section. This is where the user controls the onboard IDE and SATA controllers, Audio, LAN functions, and USB support. For SATA settings, you can select IDE mode, RAID mode for multiple disks, or ACHI mode. ACHI, which stands for Advanced Host Controller Interface, is a great interface specification that supports new technologies like Native Command Queuing and Hot Plug capabilities. You can also choose the mode you want the JMB362 controller to run as.